# 5 ‘Breaking out of the Straitjacket of Project Research’

“Dear Dr Jacobsson, I’m delighted to tell you that your article has just been published in International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.” Well, not as delighted as I am! Together with Anders Söderholm, I just got another paper published in IJMPB. This time discussing the development and future of the research field. The title of the paper is “Breaking out of the straitjacket of project research: in search of contribution”, and the full paper can be downloaded here. I’m quite happy how it turned out and believe it or not, I actually think it is worth reading!

To cite the paper: Jacobsson, Mattias and Söderholm, Anders (2011), “Breaking Out of the Straitjacket of Project Research: In Search of Contribution”, International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 378 – 388.

Structured abstract

Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a different and partly new strategy is needed in order to make research on projects relevant and interesting to a wider scientific community, including organisation and management theory.

Approach: The aim is accomplished through a mystery-focused process that identifies what is not explained and continuously confronts empirical data with theoretical explanations in an interactive manner.

Findings:Based on a phenomenology-stimulated meta-analysis of the field of project research, the paper outlines an alternative view of the field of project research and four streams of research, each of which is represented by its own scope, focus, audience and “taken-for-granted” assumptions. The streams are: in search of best practice, in search of legitimacy, in search of inspiration and in search of contribution.

Implications: The paper suggests that, in order to make an true impact on management and social science theories in general, projects must be redefined as objects of study rather than the raison d’être. The inherent paradox, and the conclusion of the paper is that, in order to become more relevant for a broader research community, projects must be reduced to an empirical illustration, a case among others.

Value: The paper provides a meta-analysis of the project management research field and offers new insights into challenges that need to be addressed in order to make project management research relevant for a wider management research community.

Me, in short

I’m a PhD, Associate Professor (Swe. Docent) and Qualified teacher (Swe. Meriterad lärare) at Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics, Sweden. Currently, I’m also hired as Researcher at the School of Engineering, Jönköping University, Sweden. I primary do research on temporary organizations, projects and the everyday practice thereof, and teach in the fields of project management and organizational theory.